NOAA’s
Coral Reef Watch, a part of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program,
now offers a satellite-based experimental low winds product that improves
the ability to assess and forecast coral bleaching events, allowing
managers to better plan and implement management actions that reduce
the effects of bleaching and promote resilience among the nation’s
coral reefs.

Low wind conditions of less than five
knots, commonly known as doldrums, can increase the temperature and
light stress that contribute to coral bleaching. Winds promote mixing
of the surface waters helping to cool the waters and deliver oxygen
to corals and remove nutrients and waste products. Wind-generated
waves also scatter light reducing incoming solar radiation to below
harmful levels. During periods of sustained low winds, there is less
mixing of shallow waters, higher temperatures and increased light
penetration promoting environmental conditions adverse to corals,
increasing the likelihood of bleaching.

Coral bleaching is associated with a
variety of stresses especially high ocean temperatures. High temperatures
and light cause corals to expel symbiotic micro-algae living in their
tissues — algae that provide corals with food. Losing their
algae leaves coral tissues devoid of color, and thus the coral appears
to be bleached. Prolonged coral bleaching of more than a week can
kill coral and eliminate the habitats
needed for a range of marine life.

NOAA's
Coral Reef Watch Program, part of NOAA’s Center for Satellite
Applications and Research, working in collaboration with NOAA's Coast
Watch and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center - Environmental Research
Division, gathers four-day mean surface wind data from the QuikSCAT
satellite sensor. Persistent regions of low wind conditions are identified,
and images and data are made available in a series of formats, including
on Google Earth.

The
potential utility of the new doldrums product was demonstrated in
mid-August, when scientists witnessed the development of a large area
of low winds off Florida’s west coast. Persisting for several
days, the event warned of the onset of a significant warming trend
over the area. After the doldrum event, this trend precipitated a
bleaching warning for some areas of Florida. Other doldrums followed
by subsequent
warming events also have been recently observed off the south coast
of Cuba and in the vicinity of Guam.

“NOAA's
investment in researching new approaches to forecasting, monitoring
and mediating the impacts of coral bleaching, mortality and recovery
is critical in protecting these vitally important ecosystems,”
said NOAA’s Timothy
Keeney, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and
atmosphere and U.S. Coral Reef Task Force co-chair. Keeney notes that
data gathered through NOAA Satellites is critical to predicting and
responding to the event, and will continue to be a key component of
analysis of the long-term impact of the bleaching.

"As an experimental product, we
expect to further improve and refine the doldrum tool," said
Dwight Gledhill of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch Program. "However,
even in its current format, NOAA's Coral Reef Watch Program believes
the experimental doldrums product will provide reef managers and the
coral research community with
important information on the way that wind conditions influence bleaching
and coral reef communities."

NOAA’s
bleaching alerts have proved useful to coral reef managers and researchers
in monitoring environmental stresses impacting their reefs. With advance
notice, officials can take measures to prevent human activity, such
as diving, boating and recreational fishing, from adding to the stress
of higher ocean temperatures already affecting the coral reefs.

The addition of the doldrum component
to the coral bleaching warning system is one in a continuing series
of steps NOAA and its partners have taken this year to address the
growing number of bleaching incidents. In February, NOAA announced
expanded regional coverage for the NOAA Coral Reef Watch Satellite
Bleaching Alert monitoring system, increasing it from six Caribbean
sites to a total of 24 sites throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean.

The
warning system is one initiative in President Bush’s Ocean Action
Plan which calls for development of new international partnerships
to enhance the management of coral reefs. The expansion was made possible
through collaborative efforts with NOAA, the World Bank, and the Global
Environment Facility. Improvements such as the doldrums product also
address the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force resolution that instructs federal
agencies to “Improve U.S. capabilities to forecast thermal stress
and its ecosystem impacts in order to enhance management and conservation
of coral reef ecosystems."

The
alert system is part of a growing integrated ocean observing system
which is helping develop a coordinated ocean research plan and advancing
international capacity building.

In 2007 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates
200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment
of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation
of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the
1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA
is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events
and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing
environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.
Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries
and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network
that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.